About this Item
A collection of 69 photographs of the Middle East compiled by a British visitor in 1936, containing photographs of Palestine, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, Nazareth, Galilee, Haifa, and Egypt. 1936 is a notable year in the history of the Middle East with the commencement of the Arab Revolt (1936-1939). The photographs offer a unique insight into civilian life in 1936 across the different geographical areas covered, and depict important local and cultural sites, the local landscapes, and street scenes. The lives of women in 1936 is specifically shown via a photograph of women together in the streets of Bethlehem, and a woman carrying water in Galilee. The album also contains five postcards from the compiler s visit. Oblong folio (25.5cm*21cm). Contemporary string-tied album, photographs with neat handwritten captions and some with descriptions, photographs held in by photograph corners. The contents of the album are in fine condition having evidently been well looked after and carefully preserved. Externally, the album is near fine with some light wear and marking. Some of the subject areas covered in the album include: the landscape (the River Nile, Pyramids of Giza, the Jericho landscape, the Haifa landscape, the Dead Sea, the Jordan Valley); local, cultural and religious sites (the Citadel of Cairo, various Mosques, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, religious sites in Bethlehem); local people engaging in their day to day lives and local street scenes (people by the Jaffa Gate and Damascus Gate, local scenes in Palestine, people together in Bethlehem and Jericho); children together in Jericho and Galilee; a segment of the album is dedicated to depicting rural life in Egypt (local people engaging in their daily lives, a wedding procession, an irrigation wheel, a sugar cane seller, a water carrier.) The album is dated 1936 in the first caption. Although the name of the compiler of the album is unknown, the captions and nature of the photographs indicates that he was a former member of the British Navy, and compiled the album in his capacity as a vistor in 1936. Beneath a postcard of Government House in Jerusalem the handwritten caption reads: Where we stayed with the High Commissioner Lt General Sir Arthur Wauchope with whom I had previously served in Germany in 1921-22. Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Wauchope (1874-1947) was the High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief in Palestine from 1931-1938. A caption at the end of the album refers to meeting with Cousin James. The caption reads: At Haifa we met at last Lt Cdr James Fenton… Royal Navy. Cousin James… whom we have been missing up and down the China seas since 1932. We supped together and played skittles. Online records record a Lt Cdr James Edmund Fenton (1903-1960) who served in the Royal Navy and received an OBE in 1942. Please contact us for shipping costs if ordering from outside the UK. Seller Inventory # ABE-1722343659087
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